Rohit Bhargava's Blog, page 108

Relevance: What Canada’s Favourite Storyteller Can Teach You About Marketing

NOTE: This is an excerpt from Chapter 5 of my new book Likeonomics. I hope you enjoy it!

Sometimes making a big statement is the only way to break through the noise. We often describe things in terms of love and hate, but there is a third and more powerful category that explains how most of us act when it comes to the vast majority of issues in the world—indifference.

It is impossible to care about everything. Things like irrelevant products and over-the-top sales people are easy to tune out....

Truth: The True Story Of How Oprah Became Oprah

NOTE: This is an excerpt from Chapter 4 of my new book Likeonomics. I hope you enjoy it!

The truth is more important than the facts.

—Frank Lloyd Wright

Always tell the truth. That way, you don’t have to remember what you said.

—Mark Twain

Phil Donahue didn’t know it yet, but his days were numbered. His self-titled Phil Donahue Show had been nationally syndicated since 1970, and by 1984 he had risen to become the undisputed king of daytime television, watched by millions every day.

That year,...

How To Be A Better Entrepreneur, Friend, Parent, Marketer & Human

NOTE FROM ROHIT: Likeonomics is now AVAILABLE - if you read my previous post and decided to wait to buy it because I asked you to, thank you!!

Please purchase your copy of Likeonomics RIGHT NOW!

About four months ago I was sitting at home during an unseasonably warm evening in late January. It was the night of the State of the Union address, and was feeling that unshakeable mixture of happiness and sadness that happens usually on the last day of an amazing vacation. That day I had just deliv...

The 5 Ways Media Will Cover The Facebook IPO & Why We Really Care Anyway

The big news all day today is going to be the Facebook IPO - and of course you would expect the media to care. Lots of "virtual" money is going to be changing hands, there will be nonstop media coverage throughout the day. To help you navigate the coverage, I figured I would take a stab at segmenting it into the five media "takes" on the story that you will likely see throughout the day:

The "Social Media Is Too Shiny" Take: We are totally in the midst of a bubble and Facebook is the poster...

Yahoo's CEO And The Modern Believability Crisis

I don't actually have a degree in Irish Poetry. I share this because recently at a few events I may have mistakenly mentioned that I did. See, I studied English literature at Emory University in the late 90s. While there, I took exactly two elective classes specifically on Irish literature and as most people who study that field already know - Emory has one of the best collections of Irish literature and poetry in the world. So I did focus on Irish Poetry, but the degree that I earned in 1997...

Why I Don't Want You To Buy Likeonomics (And This Isn't A Marketing Trick)

A few days ago I got the first shipment of my new book Likeonomics to my house. Right now the book is sitting in front of me and I really want to ask each of you to go out and buy it - but I can't. In fact, it really helps me if you DO NOT buy it yet - and the reason why explains a lot about the nature of timing, business, and what is broken with the publishing industry itself.

Book sales, like movie sales, are reported on a weekly basis through a reporting system called called Bookscan. The...

5 Marketing Lessons From Uber (The World's Best Travel App)

Several weeks ago I was standing on a street corner in New York. (This is not the sentence I thought I'd start this post with, but go with me ...) After unsuccessfully trying to hail a cab, I decided to try out an app I had heard about called Uber. I had heard it was useful for those kinds of situations. From the moment of signup - a process which took way less time than I expected, to the actual act of immediately booking a car and heading happily on my way to LaGuardia Airport just 15 minut...

Greensurfing - The Rise Of Voluntary Social Media Jealousy

The idea that Facebook causes jealousy isn't new. A study back in 2009 essentially demonstrated that romantic relationships were often suffering from jealousy induced by Facebook. The same study is still being referenced today. Unfortunately, there are a few signs that this is becoming a much bigger trend than something driven by the insecurity of dating.

For the first time in human history, there is a place where any of us can go to be surrounded by only good news. Despite the troubles in th...

The Ultimate Business Question: Are We Having Fun?

This weekend I found myself glued to a two hour piece of promotional television that I usually avoid desperately. The FOX network was having a special recap of their 25th Anniversary of producing entertainment programming. Amidst the 120 minute recap of over 140,000 hours of programming hosted by Ryan Seacrest (of course!) - there were a few moments when they brought actors of long running programs back into the studio and interviewed them.

In some cases, they created a "cast reunion" to bri...

The Ultimate Business Question: Are We Having Fun?

This weekend I found myself glued to a two hour piece of promotional television that I usually avoid desperately. The FOX network was having a special recap of their 25th Anniversary of producing entertainment programming. Amidst the 120 minute recap of over 140,000 hours of programming hosted by Ryan Seacrest (of course!) - there were a few moments when the brought the casts of long running programs back together and interviewed them.

In some cases, they created a "cast reunion" to bring th...